Episode 338: Giving Thanks for Your Emails
Date November 27, 2013 Summary Ben and Sam discuss the Hall of Fame and answer listener emails about brawls with Brian McCann, catcher framing, park effects, and more. Topics * What type of pitcher benefits most from catcher framing? * Brian McCann & unwritten rules enforcement * Position players pitching * Episode 335 follow-up: Inefficiencies in baseball and football * Recognizing park factors Intro Ray Davies, "Thanksgiving Day" Banter * Episode 329 follow-up: Deadspin has secured a Hall of Fame vote and will vote based on a poll from * What would the Hall of Fame used fan voting like the All Star Game? Email Questions * Eric: "My question is simple and lacking in whimsy; does a great framing catcher specifically help a control pitcher or a wild one more?" * Scott: "What' the over/under on the number of Yankees/Red Sox brawls that feature Brian McCann as a central figure?" * Kevin: "I was listening to Friday's email show and I was appalled at your lack of imagination in trying to come up with strategies as radical as never punting in football. How about eliminating the specialist duty of pitchers and instead filling a team with 25 hitters with 15 or so 'all rounders' who could also pitch? According to search, MLB position players have a 7.8 RA/9 as pitchers but maybe you think that by selecting position players who would make good pitchers and by giving them a little bit of actual training, you could knock their talent down to about 6.0 RA/9. Keep in mind you can get the platoon advantage for any hitter you wanted since you could change pitchers and keep them in the game at a different position. The MLB average was about 4.2 RA/9 last year so you'd have to make up two runs per game to make this work, but you'd get a lot of advantages: you don't have to spend money on pitchers, you can sign star hitters for the top of your lineup, you don't have sucky hitting pitchers if this is an NL team, and you have 25 credible position players so you can platoon the heck out of your lineup and be aggressive about pinch hitting, pinch running and defensive substitutions. Would I recommend this? No; I don't think the math works. Even with generous assumptions, was hoping the starting RA/9 of position players would be more like high-6s but it's radical and you can see how it might make sense to somebody, especially at a lower level (though I guess roster limits are less restrictive in college and such)." * Dan Brooks: "The reason going for it and onside kicking in high school is kicker kind of suck and are generally inaccurate, bad at kicking the ball far, making it less likely they will convert field goals into points and kickoffs into negative plays and onside kicks will be more successful because the opposing team has a weaker hands team and your team will be better coached to deal with them than the opposing team because you practiced this dumb strategy. So the listener asked for a similar situation in baseball. I'm reminded of a team who, in my town's little league of 12 and 13 year olds would bunt often. Like a lot. 6 or 7 bunts every time through the lineup. Why? Well let's see. Bunting players are much less likely to strike out, especially at 12 years old. Young catchers suck and can hardly get up and throw to first, let alone second. Young pitchers are generally not used to fielding their position. Young third basemen are not used to chasing down the ball. Young first basemen are often confused, not knowing whether to stay put and guard the bag or charge and grab the bunt near him. The baselines are shorter and it's easier to beat out even a good play. Even an out at first often advances one or more runners. Crappy fields mean the ball would take weird bounces and not be easy to pick up if you get there in time, etc. This makes bunting WAY BETTER at 12 and 13 like it is in the pros. Like, you'd score dozens of runs per game but most little league coaches don't have all their hitters bunt. Why? Because it's a crappy strategy that takes advantage of the fact that your opponents have poor defensive skills and rather than spending the time playing real baseball you'd rather exploit the crap out of them. The guy doing cost benefit analysis on his 14 year old football players is this guy. Don't be this guy." * Eric: "Let's say through some magic Petco Park started playing exactly the same as Coors Field starting on opening day next year. How long would it take us to realize and secondly to realize it's not just noise." Notes * If given unlimited votes, Ben & Sam would vote for either 14 or 15 players during this year's Hall of Fame voting. * Sam's initial thought is that a good framing catcher will help a wild pitcher more, but ultimately he is unsure. He worries that a wild pitcher wouldn't be able to adjust their gameplan/command well enough to benefit from the catcher and receive more calls on the edges of the plate. * It can take 3-5 years to get a large enough sample for establishing definitive park factors. * This ends several weeks of having the podcast end the week on a multiple of five. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 338: Giving Thanks for Your Emails Category:Email Episodes Category:Episodes